Floor furnace guard



May22, 1951 M. w. PINK 2,554,177

FLOOR FURNACE GUARD Filed Nov. 13, 1948 & 22.4

Summer Gum-mu? Patented May 22, 1951 FLOOR" FURNACE GUARD pMaurice Fink, Memphis, Tenn., assignor to Tennessee Fabricating Company, a Division of Allied Industries, vInc., a. corporation of Tenncssce Application November 13, 19.48, Serial No.-'59.;807

6 Claims. .1 .This invention relates -to .;guar.ds for grating covered floor-openings through which hot air fronthot-airfurnaces, particularly those of the floor "furnace .type,- is. discharged.

The guard comprises substantially identical sides I2, l4, and ends l6, [8, all of lazy tong type, each of whichtare made up of flat bars pivotally connected by rivets. The sides are each made up Theseg-ratingsor as-theyareordinarily known, 5 of bars 28, 22 and 24, which are pivotally conregisters, particularly those-used with floor furnected together by rivets 26, 2? to form the lazy vnaces,:become at-times dangerously'hotto:the tcngstructures of the :sides. thisstructure touch-and havevcaused serious" burns. =1tshould th bars 29 and 22 are identical except that the be noted-however, that in thefloor furnace type bars 22 have portions 22Aextending below the the cold air of the roomifiows downward around bottom lines of the remainder of the lazy tongs the peripheryof.thegrating-so thatthe rim of to-form anchor portions. The ends are of less thegratingas ordinarilynot-excessively hot even Width than the :sides and are madeup of bars though the vcenter portionJnaybe. 28, 5G similarly-connected by rivetstz', -33, into Numerous devices have beendevised or prothe lazy tong structure of theends. The bars 28 posed-to eifect protection, ibut'few if :any make 5 are of identical length with the bars 2&3, and the anyprovision forsize adiustment,-andianchorage bars SBofidentica-llengthwith the bars-24. The against displacement -andwoverturning is so-diffiupper terminalsof theendbars ZS-and theupper cult-that it usuallyvisrnot availed of and accidents terminals of the side bars .29 are respectively occur because of displacement. Also when they connected by rivets 34' and .36 to the legs of an are properly anchored arem-oualf-Eis=.;difficult, and angleshaped coupling-meniber-fiii, and the lower when. removal is accomplished storage .poses a terminals of the-end bars 28 and lower portions major problem. of theside barsi-Z above the extensions 22A of The objects of the present invention are: these latter bars, are similarly connected by To provide a-guardwhich rnay-be extended and rivets 35,42 to the legs of identical coupling adjustedtfor use and whichmay be compactly-acol- 25 members i l. The .pins 2! which connect the lapsediorestorage: I longitudinalterminals of the side bars 24 and the -To provide. a guard whichqmay be rea'd-ilyexpins 33 which connect the lateral terminals of tended :bothylaterally and longitudinally, :and as theend bars 39 are also used to effect connection readily agaimcollapsed for storage; of these. terminals to the legs of additional cou- To provide a guard which has a limitefdrninor pling members it. adjustment-tor" its width relative to itsjfi-length in Figs. land 3,.a typical grill isshown which when extended for use; and includes .a ,frame- Bdwhich is supported by the To provide a guard having extending portions floor 52 and carries longitudinal ribs 54 and engageable by guard adjustment with portions of transverse ribs 56 which are assembled and inthe grating or grill for effecting anchorage tegrated into a grating, the spacing of the transagainst displacement and overturning. verse ribs being much greater than that of the The means by which the foregoing and other longitudinal ribs. objects are accomplished, and the manner of The rivets securing the bars together are so set their accomplishment, will readily be understood up that the guard may be easily extended or colfrom the following specification on reference to 40 lapsed, and the rivets connecting the coupling the accompanying drawings, in which: members to the bars are looser fits. When the Fig. l is a side elevational view of the guard sides [2 and It are extended longitudinally the extended and anchored to a floor grating. coupling members cause related broadening of Fig. 2 is a corresponding elevational end view. the ends I6 and I8, and when collapsed cause con- Fig. 3 is a plan view of the guard showing a current collapse of the ends. When so collapsed fragmentary portion of the grating with which the guard becomes a compact bundle (not shown) engagement is made. having substantially the overall length of the Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged scale seclongest bars 22 and is readily stored until it is tional plan View taken on the lin IVIV of Fig. again needed.

1, showing one of the connecting members be- In installing the guard this bundle is opened tween the sides and ends of the guard; and out until the sides I2, [4 of the guard approach Fig. 5 is a similar fragmentary sectional plan the length of the grating and the extending terview showing an identical connecting member minal bar portions 22A at one end of the guard joining other portions of a side and end. are engaged between the frame 50 and the longi- Referring now to the drawings in which the tudinal grill ribs 54 at the sides of the grill, and

various parts are indicated by numerals:

beneath the transverse rib 56 at one end of the grill. Th terminal bar portions 22A at opposite ends of the sides are similarly engaged with the opposite end of the grill and so engaged the guard sides are further extended to lock the extending terminal portions beneath the transverse grill ribs 56.

Obviously extension or shortening of the sides brings a proportional widening or narrowing of the ends, but such minor widening as occurs after insertion of the bar portions in the grill to effect anchoring is readily taken care of by twist and shift of the coupling members 38, 45 and 46.

It will be apparent that the guard is of less length and width than the frame of the grill and even slightly less than the length and width of the grill proper. For all practical purposes however it substantially prevents access to the grill and because of the cooling action of the down draft of cool air around the periphery of the grill effects in practice an ideal barrier against access to dangerously hot portions of the grill, and it is obvious that the smaller size structure needed under the present construction as compared to those which entirely surround the grill is extremely advantageous.

It will be noted that the present structure has a side length of about one and one half times the end width and this ratio is maintained whether fully collapsed or fully extended. Obviously when a guard is needed which is extremely narrow with regard to its length a length to width ration of two to one or even more might be used, and a one to one ration is even more obvious.

I claim:

1. A guard for a floor grill, said guard comprising fiat bars pivotally articulated at identically spaced pivot centers, into lazy tong type side and end structures having quadrilateral pattern, and including pivotally attached bars crossing and having portions continuing upwardly and downwardly outward respectively, beyond quadrilateral portions of said sides and ends to terminalpivot centers in vertical alinement, establishing substantially rectangular said side and end structures, and coupling means pivotally attached respectively to complementary portions of said structures at said terminal-pivot centers joining said sides and ends, the downwardly and outwardly extending said bar portions only of said side structures being continued beyond and below their respective said terminal-pivot centers and 4 oppositely outward beyond the planes of said end structures to establish anchor portions for engagement with said grill.

2. A grill guard in accordance with claim 1, in which said sides and ends each include at least one quadrilateral.

3. A grill guard in accordance with claim 1, in which the length of said sides is one and onehalf times the width of said ends.

4. A guard for a floor grill, said guard comprising flat bars pivotally articulated at equally spaced pivot centers, into lazy tong type side and end structures having quadrilateral pattern, and including pivotally attached bars crossing and having portions continuing upwardly and downwardly outward respectively, beyond quadrilateral portions of said sides and ends to terminalpivot centers in vertical alinement, establishing substantially rectangular said side and end structures, and coupling means pivotally attached respectively to complementary portions of said structures at said terminal-pivot centers joining said sides and ends, said side structures at their respective opposite ends including anchor members extending downwardly below the level of said side and end structures and oppositely outwardly beyond the planes of said end structures, said anchor members comprising portions of bars of said side structures extending below their lower said pivot centers.

5. A grill guard in accordance with claim 4, in which said sides and ends each include at least one quadrilateral.

6. A grill guard in accordance with claim 4, in which the length of said sides is one and onehalf times the width of said ends.

MAURICE W. FINK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 23,908 A Eikenberry May 10, 1859 609,491 Ashwell Aug. 23, 1898 652,645 Scheel June 26, 1900 1,260,886 Eberle Mar. 26, 1918 1,276,100 Niznik Aug. 20, 1918 2,221,357 Moore Nov. 12, 1940 

